The invention relates to a method and a system for transporting data packets of a data stream between a packet-oriented data network and at least one channel-oriented data stream processing module. In particular, one aspect of the invention relates to data transport in the context of a so-called stream architecture.
Data streams and, in particular, communication data streams, such as e.g. voice, video and/or multimedia data streams, are increasingly transmitted in the form of discrete data packets via packet-oriented networks, such as e.g. local area networks (LAN) or wide area networks (WAN). To receive and process further data streams transmitted via a packet-oriented network, its data packets must be extracted from the network and supplied to appropriate data processing modules, such as e.g. software applications or digital signal processors. The further processing can relate to e.g. decoding, decompression, outputting or conversion to a circuit-oriented transmission protocol. Such data stream processing modules are in most cases of multichannel design.
To transmit data packets of a data stream between a packet-oriented network and a channel-oriented data stream processing module, the so-called stream architecture known from the environment of the Unix operating system is found to be particularly advantageous. The stream architecture is of modular composition of predetermined layers of standard software components. As a consequence, the stream architecture is highly portable and allows for simple integration of additional services. To transmit data packets between a packet-oriented network and a channel-oriented data stream processing module, according to the stream architecture, an interface module for exchanging the data packets with the network, an interface driver, a so-called voice multiplexer for data channel allocation, a so-called voice module for preprocessing the useful voice data and a driver for a voice-processing signal processor or a voice-processing application must be provided. The modules are in each case coupled via input and output queues in the order specified. Data are transported via the modules in the order specified. The data transport is controlled by a data stream controller (call processing) which accesses the other modules via the voice multiplexer.
However, the type of data transport specified requires relatively high processor power, particularly with a high number of data channels. In addition, the data packets are delayed in a not insignificant manner.